Drug Testing in Recovery

Many addiction treatment programs require regular drug testing or require clients to submit to random drug tests. This practice is somewhat controversial, but it’s often used as a way to protect other clients from temptation and being triggered.

Whether or not a program will include drug testing also depends on its philosophies regarding abstinence. Most traditional addiction treatment programs consider it necessary for clients to become abstinent as soon as possible and make complete abstinence, often from any intoxicating substance, a requirement. They tend to teach that any use of a drug constitutes relapse, and it is to be avoided at all costs.

In recent years, newer programs have begun to question this model and experiment with alternative philosophies surrounding abstinence. They may focus on treating underlying physical and mental health issues that may be leading to substance abuse and consider drug use in moderation to be acceptable. However, there are additional reasons for treatment programs to require clients to abstain from drug use entirely.

If someone brings drugs into an inpatient facility that focuses on abstinence, that exposes all clients to temptation even if they don’t want to take drugs. This can damage a person’s progress and derail the entire treatment program for that individual, which can be especially unfortunate as these programs can be expensive.

At the same time, relapse after a period of abstinence can be very dangerous. Abstinence causes a person’s tolerance to decline, so a lower dose can cause a high or trigger an overdose. Many people are unaware of this and will end up taking the same high dose they were taking before they became abstinent. This tends to result in serious overdose that can be deadly.

In more flexible programs, seeing someone act high or knowing that another client has relapsed can be relapse triggers. In situations like halfway houses where recovering individuals live together, taking drugs can also lead to dangerous behavior, especially if it continues, due to lowered inhibitions and an increase in impulsive actions.

For all these reasons, drug tests can be very beneficial. In the end, programs are responsible for the health of multiple people, and they need to do what’s best for the group.